Old Testament Scripture in that role. On this construal, the canon of Scripture was functional in the latter part of the second century, for churchly writers of the time refer to and in that fashion cite a limited set of writings, roughly those that now make our New Testament, and conduct arguments for or against the propriety of admitting particular writings to this role. Irenaeus, writing around 180, is always instanced: thus early in his work Against Heresies, he puts “the Lord’s parables … and